


Arrows and knives

by 5hines_writes



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Bard - Freeform, Geraskier, M/M, Merpeople
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23732779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5hines_writes/pseuds/5hines_writes
Summary: Everyone knows what the skills of a Witcher are, but Jaskier had tricks up his sleeve Geralt couldn’t even think of, the mystery of a bard. Geralt was in awe, but he had a hard time putting that into words.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 9
Kudos: 108





	1. Arrows

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! My second ever Witcher fic. This one is two chapters! I was very hyped to post this so I hope I didn't read over any mistakes. The second chapter is as good as ready but needs some finalising. I'll post the second chapter hopefully soon. Let me know what you already think of this chapter!

Everyone knows what the skills of a Witcher are, but Jaskier had tricks up his sleeve Geralt couldn’t even think of, the mystery of a bard. 

The first time Geralt found out about one of his skills was at Lord Vondar’s feast, where both Geralt and Jaskier were invited after Geralt had helped them with a pesky monster. 

“Fearless as ever, the witcher took his sword and with one swift move, burrowed his sword deep into the beast’s chest!” Jaskier finished his dramatic retelling of the events of the day before. Geralt had learned to ignore the inflated truths and minor lies, as it made Jaskier earn more coin and Geralt more reputation. 

“Now, who wants to find out if Witchers are truly fearless? I certainly do!” he said, whisking a bow and arrows from who knows where. The guests all cheered. Geralt tried to make eye contact with Jaskier, but he seemed to purposefully ignore Geralt’s look as he riled up the crowd. 

“Geralt, my dear Witcher, would you do me the honor?” Jaskier asked, gesturing towards a slab of wall. The crowd chattered excitedly and Geralt reluctantly stood up and walked over to the wall. 

“Please stand here and it is very important you do not move,” Jaskier yelled out, “Now who can lend me an apple?” He walked around the hall and plucked an apple off of one of the trays. He put the apple on top of Geralt’s head. 

“Have you ever even used a bow and arrow before?” Geralt asked. Jaskier shrugged. 

“Once upon a time I used a bow and arrow,” he said, the crowd getting more excited. He walked twenty steps away from Geralt and turned around. A silence fell around the room. 

Jaskier put the arrow on the bow and pulled it back on the string, focusing on the apple on top of Geralt’s head. Geralt was focusing on Jaskier’s arrow, ready to move if Jaskier had grossly overestimated his abilities. Jaskier swiftly let go off the arrow and it shot forward. For a second everyone watched silently as the arrow soared through the room before it planted itself in the middle of the apple and went through the other side until it halted midway through the apple, stopped by the wall. The crowd went wild with excitement and even Geralt could smile. The bard was full of fun surprises. 

  
Jaskier asked the crowd to be silent again and demanded for Geralt to stay put. 

“Hold the apple in front of you,” Jaskier said, Geralt eyed him and pulled the other arrow out of the apple, knowing full well the arrow would pierce through it. Jaskier locked eyes with him and seemed to be saying _trust me_. And Geralt did, so he stayed right where he was, apple in hand. 

Jaskier took an arrow and aimed at the apple, excited whispers going through the crowd. Jaskier was ready to let go of the arrow when he suddenly turned to the right and in a split second aimed and let go of the arrow. Before anyone could even register what was happening, the arrow had burrowed itself deep into the ham in front of Lord Vondar. It had never been more silent as the lord looked wide-eyed at the arrow, mere centimeters in front of him. Then he started roaring with laughter and everyone applauded and laughed along. 

“Get this man some more wine!” he ordered and told Jaskier he was always welcome at his feasts. Geralt was amazed once again at how charming Jaskier could be, if he wanted to. Geralt had developed a soft spot for the bard pretty early on and by now he wished not to part with him.

When they were walking out from the party, Geralt told Jaskier, "You really manage to surprise me after all these years, where did you learn that?"

Jaskier look at him and smiled.

"Geralt, I spent half my childhood practising this and other useless things." Jaskier said. 

“This has been fun, Jaskier, see you around,” and with that Geralt walked off and Jaskier was left behind again.

“Do you mind if I join you?” Jaskier asked long after Geralt was gone. He sighed and made his way to the nearest tavern, lonely and already missing the reassuring presence of his favourite witcher. 

  
  


Geralt walked into the tavern for some food after receiving his coin from the mayor. He chose a quiet corner and ordered chicken. On the other side of the room he saw a bard with an incredible body chatting away animatedly with a lady. A surge of jealousy rose for this unknown bard and he watched him for a few more minutes before he focused on his food. He saw a man come stand beside him and recognised the clothes from the bard, excited to see this man’s face he looked up and almost choked. 

“Jaskier!” he said through a piece of chicken, which lodged itself in his throat. Geralt started coughing in terror, afraid he would actually choke. Jaskier slapped on his back a few times but the piece was still stuck and Geralt was turning red and blue both at the same time. By now half the people had turned around to look on as Geralt coughed and coughed, but did nothing to help. Jaskier pulled him off his chair with surprising force and proceeded to do the heimlich manoeuvre and the piece of chicken flew out. Geralt gasped for air and the people around them applauded. Jaskier helped him sit down and asked if he was okay. 

That night Jaskier accompanied him to his room. Jaskier happily plopped down beside Geralt on the bed and strummed on his lute.

“Thank you for, uhm, not letting me choke…” Geralt said, “You are surprisingly strong, you know that?”   
Jaskier halted his music and the note faded out. “You’re welcome. Anyway, what would come of my career if the subject of the majority of my songs died? Now if you died fighting a monster, that would be exciting to write, as much as I don’t want you dead. You choking on some chicken however, makes for an exceptionally boring song.” 

Geralt let out a rare laugh, “Fine, I’ll try to die in a more exciting way. Make sure you come along, then you’re sure you’re not missing my final moments.” 

“No more coin for the witcher, the valley is deadly…” Jaskier jokingly sang. 

“No, really, come along,” Geralt said. 

“If you insist,” Jaskier said, setting away his lute and lying down beside Geralt. He dozed off quickly and Geralt was almost jealous at Jaskier’s skill to fall asleep almost instantly

But when Geralt wakes up in the morning after a good night’s sleep, Jaskier is gone. It would be a few months before he would see Jaskier again.

  
  


“Well well, who do we have here?” Jaskier asked. He had stayed out of Geralt reach for a while, he had been forcing himself upon Geralt for too long. He didn’t like to feel unwelcome so he was off to more interested parties, but he had to admit it was gnawing at him. He missed his witcher so he tracked him down again.

Geralt turned around glad to see Jaskier again, though he had pained him not seeing so long after he had promised to come along. 

“Jaskier! I-” but he swallowed his words. He had wanted to say _I missed you,_ but he felt unwanted and alone and he was sure he was just bumping into Jaskier by coincidence. 

“Are you going out to fight a monster?” Jaskier asked, coming to walk beside Geralt. Geralt shook his head. 

“Actually came back already.”

“What? Clean and everything,” he smelled the witcher, “and you already took a bath! It’s like I don’t know you anymore, you smell like flowers.” 

Geralt only smiled, only one person he would take a bath for. 

“So who are you bathing for? A nice lady?” Jaskier asked. Geralt smile dropped. 

“Nevermind that. You care to join me for a drink tonight? I’ve got nothing planned and no place to go next yet,” Geralt tried. He saw Jaskier smile gladly. 

  
  


“Show me again!” Geralt yelled. Jaskier took a coin in his hand, made it disappear and then ‘pulled’ it out of Geralt's ear. 

“I didn’t know you could do magic, what else can you do?” Geralt asked. Jaskier was amused, he had no real magical abilities, but he had gotten quite good at sleight-of-hand magic. 

“It’s not real magic, Geralt. It’s tricks and distraction. You see this coin?” Jaskier made it disappear again. 

“Now look under your bread,” and there was a coin resting under the bread, that had been untouched for quite a while. Jaskier took the coin back and made it disappear one last time. 

“Look under your bread again,” Jaskier said, there were two coins resting under the bread. 

“I am impressed,” Geralt said. 

“Thank you. I’ll give you your coins back, I’ll put them right in your coin purse,” he said, at which Geralt smiled. His smile quickly faltered when he realised he no longer had it. He looked back up to see Jaskier dangling it in front of his eyes. He quickly snatched it out of the bard’s hands. 

“Don’t try that again,” he said, tucking his purse away.

“You’re welcome to join me on my next quest,” Geralt said later that night as they were heading off to bed. Jaskier shrugged.

“No need to pity me, Geralt, I can take care of myself,” he hadn’t meant it to come out that sharp, but it happened. Geralt stopped dead in his tracks. 

“What?” Geralt asks, turning around.

“I know you don’t want me around, you don’t have to do it out of pity, I will just go on by myself and write songs,” Jaskier could hear himself rambling on, cursing at himself for not just saying, okay sounds fun. 

“Jaskier, stop,” Geralt said, and it was the cue for Jaskier to shut up, “I want you around. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.” 

“Oh,” Jaskier simply said, taking a second to recover, then he continued in a sing-song voice “Did you miss me? Do you want to kiss me?” he stopped when he realised what he had said. 

Geralt simply looked ahead and went up to their room. 

Geralt couldn’t be more than happy to see Jaskier was still there in the morning, and again when he came back upstairs having heard of a new monster to fight. 

He woke Jaskier up, gave him some bread and told him they had to get going. Jaskier piped up. 

“Where are we going?” he asked. 

“The sea.” 


	2. Knives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading on to the second chapter! I hope you liked the first part and will like this part as well! I just love the Geralt Jaskier dynamic so I hope it translates well in this chapter. I'm trying to get back into writing so any feedback/ideas are greatly appreciated!

“Mermaids?” Jaskier said. Geralt was preparing the dinghy to go out on the water. 

“Yes, so be careful,” Geralt warned him. 

“Oh, so you think I can’t resist a mermaid?” Jaskier said.

“Yes,” he simply replied. 

“Well, let’s see about that,” Jaskier said, putting his lute into the boat and then getting it himself. Geralt got in as well and started rowing away from the shore. Jaskier was strumming on his lute and Geralt peered over the side of the dinghy to spot any mermaids. 

“Sing something,” Geralt said, Jaskier eyed him. “Oh, so now you’re using me as bait?” 

Jaskier sighed but still started singing. 

Geralt seemed to spot something and signed for Jaskier to keep singing, though he got visibly nervous. A beautiful mermaid with black hair and luscious curls surfaced and eyed the two men. 

“Good evening, gentlemen,” she said, but did not get the expected reaction. Geralt was holding a knife and Jaskier had not stopped playing. She studied the two men and then swiftly disappeared back under the waves. A burly looking merman with long blonde hair appeared at the side of their boat. Geralt was unmoved. Jaskier had stopped playing and singing and focused on the man. 

“My name is Cyra, what do you want, witcher?” he said, focusing on Geralt. 

“There are reports of whole ships being sunk,” Geralt said. 

“What, you think we’re behind it?” Cyra said, shaking his head. 

“This is your area,” Geralt replied, not confirming nor denying. 

“Humans are greedy. They fish more than they can eat. They should not forget the creatures resting below. They grow hungry. If the fishermen move to the bay to the east, they would be much safer. They want the fat fish that swim here, never wondering why we like to keep the fish so fat here. We don’t interfere with the human’s affairs, the creatures do not harm us, we respect their space, I suggest humans do that same.” 

Geralt nodded in understanding. Cyra then turned his attention to Jaskier. 

“I like your singing, why did you stop?” he smiled and Jaskier happily started singing the first song he could think of. Cyra swam to Jaskier’s side and rested a hand on the bard’s arm. 

“Care to go for a swim?” he offered. Jaskier set down his lute happily and grabbed the side of the boat, ready to swing his leg over. Geralt grabbed him by the collar, “I think the fuck not.” fighting the bard as he tried to crawl overboard. 

“He said he liked my singing, now LET ME GO”

“I like your singing.” Geralt said matter-of-factly. 

“Oh, do you?!”he said, waving Geralt away. 

Geralt grabbed the merman and got close to his face, “He is spoken for.” 

The merman looked between the two and decided to give up. 

“Fine, but you owe me,” Cyra conceded. Geralt bound Jaskier to the boat so he would stop trying to get out. 

“Fine by me,” Geralt said, after which Cyra disappeared again into the depths below. Jaskier sadly looked after the man. Only after Jaskier put his feet back on the ground at shore, did he come back to himself. 

“Wait, what happened? Why are we back here? I remember the mermaid and then?” Jaskier said, looking out to the sea. 

“No worries, it’s handled. Just need to have a chat with the fishermen.” Geralt assured him. 

Geralt came back from the town, having been paid in both coin and fish. They started a fire and prepared the fish, Jaskier was having plenty of beer with it.

Jaskier laid down to sleep and Geralt joined beside him, lying back, looking up at the stars. 

“So, mermen huh?” he said. At that word, a light seemed to go on in Jaskier’s mind. 

“I made a complete fool of myself, didn't I?” Jaskier asked, looking at Geralt, who smiled. 

“You were not the first, nor will be the last. They have that effect on people,” Geralt said. Jaskier closed his eyes. Geralt hesitated, but he had to ask. 

“So you like, uh-, men in general?” he let out, turning on his side, hoping Jaskier was just drunk enough to reply. 

He was and replied without opening his eyes. 

“Men? Give me the tall silent type with long hair and strong arms,” he said, subconsciously rolling into Geralt and snuggling close to him, getting comfortable. Any hope from Geralt to catch some good night’s sleep vanished after those words, instead he spend a long while looking down at the bard softly snoring against his chest. 

Jaskier woke up against Geralt, having accidentally swung his leg over Geralt’s. He cursed his mind for betraying him. He looked up to see was Geralt was already awake and looking at him. He jumped up at the speed of light, readjusting his clothes. 

“Hello, umh good morning, did you sleep well?” he asked, busying himself with getting the fire going again. 

“Fine,” Geralt only let out. He wanted to say something else but he couldn’t find the right words. He was a man of action, not of words. The days were a bit awkward after that, tension building between them. Jaskier knew perfectly well what he had said before and Geralt did his best not to mention it at all, because he was not sure what to say about it anyway. Jaskier tried to keep his distance at night. Geralt, he ached to have Jaskier closer. Feeling the bard’s touch made him sleep much better, knowing he was safe and sound sleeping against him. Now, he had never slept worse, the bard always just barely out of grasp.

That might have been why he took longer than usual fighting this monster. It was a tall dark monster standing on its hind legs in attack. It had only one eye and two pairs of arms and was swinging all of them rapidly at Geralt. His sword was barely piercing its skin, which looked like thick oil. He was trying to tire the monster out but he was getting tired quicker. 

Jaskier was waiting with Roach but Geralt had been gone for far too long and he was getting worried. He took two knives out of Roach’s saddle bag. 

“What do you want me to do, sit around and wait?” he said to Roach as she looked at him. “I’ll just go check what’s up.” 

Jaskier walked into the woods in the direction Geralt went and could hear the growls of the monster and the grunts from Geralt as he was slashing into this monster, who was attacking him relentlessly. He came past a bush and got a good sight of the monster. 

“Holy mother of-” he cut his sentence short as the monster turned his eye on him. 

“Jaskier get back!” Geralt yelled as he took another jab at it. He was successful at reverting the attention back to him but he was much less successful at making any progress. Its giant fist hit the side of his face and Geralt almost toppled over from the force. He was still recovering from this blow when he saw another fist coming his way. He heard a whoosh coming from behind him and he ducked the other way as a knife flew past him and lodged itself with surprising force in the monster’s eye. Geralt looked on confused as it burrowed into the monster’s brain. The monster’s movements halted, it fell to the ground and unceremoniously face planted into the mud beside Geralt. 

“You could have missed!” Geralt turned around at Jaskier, who was holding another knife. 

“Honey, I never miss,” Jaskier said, throwing the second knife. It landed between Geralt’s feet.

“You’re welcome,” the bard said, turning around and walking back towards Roach. Geralt was confused and in awe. Jaskier had just taken down a monster and was now walking away from him, swinging his hips and humming, seemingly teasing him. Geralt ran after him and took his arm and turned him back around. Jaskier landed flush against his chest. 

“Geralt?” he let out, and it sounded almost like a moan, cheeks red. 

“Fuck,” Geralt let out, finally giving into the desire and finally kissing Jaskier as he had been wanting to do for so long. It felt great, he wanted more, he never wanted to let go but  _ fuck _ ,  _ what was he thinking?  _ He pushed himself away from Jaskier and headed to Roach without looking back. 

“Geralt,” Jaskier let out, coming to run behind him, flustered and aching for more. It sounded almost squeaky and he cleared his throat and collected himself. Geralt turned back around hesitantly. Jaskier was standing there with one hand on his hip. 

“If knife throwing is  _ your thing _ , I could do it more often,” he said. 

“Come to me,” Geralt said. Jaskier only needed to hear that once. He took a running start and jumped with his whole weight into Geralt’s arms and kissed him back wholeheartedly. The witcher grunted in appreciation as he squeezed Jaskier close. 

Jaskier was hesitant as he was getting into bed, Geralt was already settled and he hesitated at the side of the bed. Sure they had shared many touches today but sharing a bed was something else. Geralt looked up at him with a questioning look. 

“Uhm-” Jaskier started and Geralt was amused, it didn’t happen much that Jaskier was at a loss for words. Geralt held out his hand and Jaskier took it and he pulled the bard into bed with him. Jaskier snuggled close to him and Geralt happily put his arms around him. 

“Finally, I can get some good fucking sleep,” he said and for the first time he fell asleep before Jaskier did. Jaskier snuggled closer to Geralt, very intentionally swung his leg over Geralt’s hip and fell asleep. 


End file.
